Airship.



H. L. RODERlCK H. D. NEWHABT. AIRSHIP. APPLICATION msb MAR. 20. 1911.

LWEAM, I Patented Mar. 14,1916.-

3SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESSES H. L. RODEFHCK & H. D. NEWHART.

AIRSHIP.

APPLiCATION FILED MAR. 20, IBM.

Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

MW NZ WITNESSES H.-L. RODERICK &H.. D. NEWHART.

AIRSHIP.

APPLICATION HLED M-AR. 20. 1911-.

Patented. Mar. 14, 1916.

'3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- WITNESSES INVENTORS used at the Will of the prairieserases earns r unr pe.

HARRY L. RODERICK ,Afim HARRY I). NEWHART, F OROVI'LLE', CALIFORNIA;SAID NEWHAR'I ASSIGNOR T0 SAID RODERICK. I

AIBSHIP.

Speeiiieationof Letters Patent. P t t Mar 1 1, 19

Application "filed March 20, 1911. Serial No. 615,488.

of aeroplanes by which the air pressure may be utilized iufthe mosteflicient manner possible.

A, further object is to provide one in which the pressure of the airdeveloped by the propeller may be utilized both to elevate the ship andto maintain its balance.

A further object isto provide an auxiliary device, independent of saidaeroplanes for automatically balancing laterally the air ship, againstirregular wind action.

it. further object is to provide means whereby said auxiliary operatoras well as automatically.

In (he aeconuianying is a side view of the air ship; Fig.2 is a brokenplan view of the same; Fig. 3 is a front View.

@ur improved air ship is, in general, of

the monoplane type, that is to say, it comprises an elongated frame 1,supported when at rest upon front wheels 2 hnd rear wheels 3 which areat a consulcrable distance from one another, and supporting at the rearend the lateral steering rudders 4, the stationary vertical plane 5 inthe same vertical plane with the front edge of said lateral. steeringrudders, the elevating rudders 6. and the subshlntially horizontalplanes 7 in the Same general direction with the front edge of said 1E.1l;l(1i11 steering rudders. Supported upon the upper portion of theframe 1 near its front end are the front and rear cross bars 8, 9, ofthe main aeroplanes 10 of our improved air ship, said aeroplanes if),or, as they may be termed, aeroplane sections, extending'at the sides ofthe ship outside the main frame and being supported upon rods 11 of theusual form secured to said cross bars and extending rearwardly from therear cross bar. 12 indicates the propeller, the shaft 13 of which'issupported upon the top of the main frame at the .front end device mayalso be drawings, Figure 1 thereof, in a suitable bearing 1% upon thefront cross bar, having a rear bearing on a cross support 15 extendingbetween the up per members of the main frame said shaft having thereon apulley 16 driven by a belt 17 from an engine 18 which is supported inthe lower portion of the main frame at the front end thereof.

No novelty is claimed for the the'air ship heretofore described.

Great rearward air pressure is produced by the propeller, and heretoforethis pressure has been utilized only to a small extent, the greaterportion of the air underv said pressure escaping in the central spacebetween the two sections of the main aeroplane Without producing anylifting; effect. One object of our invention is to utilize this airpressure. For this purpose'u'e provide an auxiliary aeroplane 20, whichis sup ported upon posts 21, the lower ends of which rest upon the upperlongitudinal members of the main frame. said aeroplanes 20 beingsuitably connected by guy-wires 22. This auxiliary aeroplane is of thesame depth as the main aeroplane and its front and read edges are bothset back slightly from thoseof the main aeroplane. It is however ofconsiderably less width than the portion of comlu'ned Widths of the mainaeroplane.

The utility of this auxiliary aeroplane will appear from the followingconsiderations. The propeller produces a rearward movement of air and inour invention this rapidly moving air impinges upon the under side ofsaid auxiliary plane, and by reason of the concavity of said plane,produces thereon a lifting effect. It also produces a balancing effect.The air pressing upon the under side of this auxiliary plane arrives inthree ways. Part of the air comes directly against said under side overthe upper portions of the main planes, and is caused by the meremovement of the air ship lhrough the air. This portion of the airprcssurc is the same at all points transversely of the air ship. Asecond portion of the air passes over the upper portion of the mainplane sections but is produced by the rotary movement of the propeller.lt is evident that this portion of the air pressure will be much thegreatest in the central portion of the auxiliary plane. A. third portionof lhc air pressure comes by Way of the air passing'beneath the mainaeroplane and forced thereundgi'f" bythe propeller or by any other meansand escaping past the inner ends of ,thesections of the main aeroplaneup through the opening between them. It is evident that'this pressure isalso by far the greatest in the center of the auxiliary aeroplane. Fromthis it is apparent that the pressure in the center of the auxiliaryaeroplane is much greater than that at the ends, probably from two tothree times as great, and therefore the auxiliary aeroplane thusarranged has a balancing efiect as well as a lifting efiect.

Upon the main frame at a distance to the rear of said main aeroplaneslightly less than the depth of the said aeroplane is supported by posts25 a supplementary aeroplane. This is the same depth as the auxiliaryaeroplane, but slightly shorter. It is arranged at such a level that itsdownward and rearward slope is substantially a continuation of thedownward'and rearwardslopeoi the ,auxiliary aeroplane. The object of thesupplementary aeroplaneis to utilize the pressure of the air escapingfrom between the main and auxiliary aeroplanes. It is well known that acurrent of air which has been deflected by a plane, on passing the rearedge of said plane, has a tendency to curl, as it were, in awave motionaround said rear edge,- or to return to its former direction. Thisis dueto the fact that the relative velocity of the air in immedate contactwith said plane is reduced, while the velocity of the air which is notin immediate contact therewith is not reduced, or, it reduced,thereduction is very little. On account oft-his difference in velocitybetween the air which is incontact with the plane andthat which isremote from the plane, the air in passing the rear edge of auxiliaryplane acquires an upward direction. The supplementary aeroplane takesadvantage of the pressure thus produced.

Another eflect produced by said su plement'ary plane is to counteractthe ten ency oi the air ship to rock in a longitudinal direction., Saidsupplementary plane causes the air ship to fly With'exceeding smoothnessand uniformity of angular elevation.

ll'e provide additional means for preserving the balance of the airship, which means is used automatically, but may also be used at thewill of the operator. This neans comprises a vertical'vane 30, securedat a, point about one-fifth of its length from its front edge to theupper portion of a shaft/31.

This shaft passes through suitably "sup:

ported upper and lower. bearings 32, 33. From said shaft extends.rigidly secured thereto a rearwardly and downwardly sloping arm 34:, tothe end of which is secured a weight This device acts in the followingmanner. The pressure of the air against both sides of the vane tends to.keep it parallel with the longitudinal direction of the air ship, andtherefore also the arm carrying the weight normally extends directlyrear- Ward. But should the air ship tilt to one side,- thenthe weightwill also swing to that side and in doing so it will rock the verticalposite directions, upon which the feet of the operator, seated on a seat38, can rest, so

that, in case of emergency, he can with his feet, turn the shaft andthus move the rear portion of the vane to either side of the ship toproduce the same efiect as is produced automatically.

We claim:--

1. In an airship, a main transverse aeroplane comprising two aeroplanesectionsspaced apart centrally, their rear edges being lower than theirfront edges to increase the pressure of the air passing thereunderbeneath said front edges, said sections being so inclined transverselythat air having its pressure so increased escapes past their inner endsinto said central space, and an auxiliaryrectangular aeroplane havingits front edge in the rear of the front edge of the'main aeroplane, andits rear edge in the rear of the rear edge of the main aeroplane and ata distance therefrom less than the depth'of the main aeroplane and at ahigher level, extending over said central space and over the inner endsof the main aeroplane sections to receive the upward pressure from thealr escaping into said central space from said main aeroplane, andlikewise having its rear edge lower than the front edge.

2. In'anair ship, the combination of a propeller having a horizontalshaft, :1 main transverse aeroplane substantially in the plane of theshaft of the propeller and comprising two aeroplane sections spacedapart centrally, an auxiliary aeroplane of considerably less width thanthe main aeroplane and at a higher level and set to the rear of the mainaeroplane at a distance less than ,the depth of said aeroplane, and asupplemehtaryaeroplane of less width than the auxiliary aeroplane,spaced from said auxiliary aeroplane and ata level intermediate betweenthose of the main and aux- ;iliary-aeroplanes, substantially asdescribed.

3. An airv ship, having a propeller, a vertical vane 1n the upperportion of the air ship, a vertical shaft to which said vane ISSBCUI'Gd,an arm extending rearwardly from said shaft and a weight secured to thefree elud of said arm, substantially as de- 4. An air ship having apropeller, a verset ourvhands in the presenco of twosmlp tical vane inthe upper portion of} the air scribing witnesses. ship, a vertical shaftto which sai vane is v w secured, an arm extending rearwardly and 3downwardly from said shaft and a Weight secured to the free end of saidarm, substan- Witnesses; r tially as described. 1 Y I FRANcxs'M. WRIGHT,

In testimony whereof we have hereunto D. B. RIOEARDS.

